TWO WOMEN

I hope you all enjoyed the "Sad Songs" list from over the weekend. As many of you who know me well can attest, I love sharing things with you when they are good, and I feel you need to know about them. I don't know whether anyone who reads this or not has ever bought an album or saw a movie or TV show based on my recommendation, but when something strikes me as good, I love to tell people about it.

This week's blog is about two women who are in entertainment at different ends of the age spectrum---but yet in 2011 are making their mark and doing it quite well. The first is from the world of music. Back in September, I got a copy of Kenny Chesney's latest CD HEMINGWAY'S WHISKEY. While I will stop just shy of saying it's his best CD of his career, the good on the album is some of the most amazing stuff he has recorded. One of those songs is "You and Tequila," a duet with a female vocalist by the name of Grace Potter. While I do listen to many different styles of music, I wasn't familiar with the Vermont native until Chesney's album. The track features one of the more haunting melodies that I have heard in some time. I decided to do a little bit of research, and found out that Potter has quite the following. Upon talking about her with one of the people that I write for, I decided to give her music a listen, and picked up a copy of GRACE POTTER & THE NOCTURNALS. I can honestly tell you that it is one of the best rock albums I have heard in a long time. Aside from one track, the album has no political statement to make (and that one ,"Colors," is one where you're going to have to think about it as she doesn't wear you down with it), and is just fun songs about life, love, and....things that go bump in the night....It is Rock & Roll after all.....If you like that genre, you owe it to yourself to pick up a copy of this disc. The current single and opening cut, "Paris," will have you singing along with the windows down.....loudly, just like I was doing the other day. Look for some big things from this talented lady.

While Potter is just in her 20s, there's another female entertainer who has been at her craft for many years----and doing it as good as ever. A recent discussion among one of my friends and I turned to pop culture and who our favorite actors and actresses of the time were. Male-wise, Jeff Bridges would be high on my list, but probably (though he has been quiet as of late), Billy Bob Thornton would get my vote. On the female side of things, I had to think for a minute. What actress in the past few months had demonstrated the most versatile range? There was only one answer----and she just celebrated her 90th birthday.

I'm talking, of course, about Betty White. Whether playing the goody-goody Rose on "The Golden Girls," or the saucy Sue Ann Nivens on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," she has been one of America's favorite actresses for years. And so it goes, last year, White teamed up with sitcom stars Jane Leeves, Wendie Malick, and Valerie Bertinelli for the TV LAND series "Hot In Cleveland." While her co-stars are very good in their roles, and fun to watch, White steals the scenes time and again. It is one of the funniest shows that I have seen in a long time, and makes Wednesday nights worth looking forward to. But, there's another side to White besides her classic humor. Did anyone catch a CBS movie a few weeks ago called "The Lost Valentine?" In it, White played a woman whose husband was missing in action from World War II, and with the help of a reporter, played by Jennifer Love Hewitt, she finally finds out what happened to her husband, and is reunited with his remains. A part of the "Hallmark Hall of Fame" series, these movies are designed to stir up emotions, but in a rare dramatic turn for the actress---she showed why she is so loved in America and has enjoyed a career resurgence since last year's Snickers' TV commercial. Whether making us laugh....or cry, the last of TV's "Golden Girls" still has it....even at age 90!

Maybe you're familiar with the recent works of these two women, but if you're not, you need to be. Potter's work is available where music is sold, and Hot In Cleveland airs Wednesday nights on TV Land. Check them out. You'll thank me later!